Dog Days
by Sillvog
Summary: Conrad has been sent to earth to protect Yuuri, only problem is, he's been turned into a dog and Yuuri has yet to find out. Con/Yuu. Rating may go up in the future.
1. Chapter 1

I don't know what to say. If you liked 'The Royal Pet' I can guess you're going to like this one. It's not a continuation or anything, but rather the original idea I had before TRP. Some art of a Konrart version of a dog I found on DeviantART by perfectlyduck inspired this. At least I think it might have been him. My Conrad looks a little different than that dog though. Now, as they say, on with the show!

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'_This is the worst.'_Yurri thought. First his alarm clock had run out of batteries sometime during the night so he woke up late. Second, when he was rushing to get ready for school he had missed breakfast. Third, his bike had gotten a flat tire from passing a construction site. And finally fourth, it looked like it was about to rain and he didn't have an umbrella with him. Trying to stay positive he thought one thing. _'At least it can't get any worse than this.'_

He was wrong. _'I should know better than to think that, it can always get worse' _he lamented. The three bigger boys he had saved Murata from the first time they met had apparently decided to pick on him instead. He had learned a lot from his time in Shin Makoku and his battle with Soushu. He tried not to show too much fear. The boys were boxing him into a small dark alley on the side of the road. He looked behind himself and saw that the alley had a dead end. What he wouldn't give to be able to step into a puddle and to the other world right now. Since his battle with Soushu, he found he wasn't able to travel anymore to Shin Makoku. The thought depressed him, but right now he had bigger worries to deal with.

Just as he was pressed into the brick wall behind him with the bigger boys blocking his only exit, he heard a deep growling. Yuuri froze, whatever was making that noise did not sound like a happy camper. The bullies were thinking along similar lines. Whatever was making the noise sounded big, and it sounded mad. One of the bullies paled and stared to Yuuri's right side. There were some cardboard boxes and a trash can so Yuuri couldn't see what the other boy saw, but the two other bullies could. They started to back up slowly without ever taking their eyes of the spot.

With an even louder growl and a shuffling of paper could be heard the boys bolted, leaving Yuuri to fend for himself. He sat as still as he could and clenched his eyes shut when a shadow moved along the wall. The growling had stopped, but not the sound of the animal moving around. Even with his eyes closed he could still hear the ever approaching noise of the animal. He could hear the beasts claws scrape along the pavement. There was a strengthening smell of earth and metal for every passing moment. The next thing he was aware of was a short and warm measured breath gently crossing over his face. Then, his check was wet. The boys eyes flew open and he found himself staring straight into a pair of dark chocolate eyes set in a mahogany colored fur face.

The large dog had just put his cold wet nose against his cheek. Yuuri sat stunned, the dog was huge! He didn't know much about dog breeds, but he did know that this was one of the bigger ones. For all the sound it had made earlier, it didn't look the least bit mean. Sure it was kind of dirty with mud and some blood caked to its fur, but not threatening. It even looked rather kind to him. He cautiously raised his left hand to pet the dog. It didn't seem to mind when he started to stroke its fur, in fact, its tail started to slowly wag back and forth. Yuuri couldn't keep the smile off his face. This dog had just saved him from the bullies and was happily letting him pet it. He had always wanted a dog, but his mother didn't approve. Something about not wanting to deal with a boy and his dog. If he had wanted a kitten she would have been all for it he was sure.

He slowly sat up and walked out of the alley. He just couldn't help but notice that the dog was following him. It didn't have a collar or anything, so he had assumed it was a stray. But if it was trailing at his heels like this, maybe it was a lost pet and he looked like its owner? He didn't have much time to think about it, he could hear the schools bell ringing right now. He was close enough now that if he ran he could still make it to class in time. He decided that if the dog was still here after he was done with school he would try and take it home with him.

When school had finally ended for the day, Yuuri was one of the first ones out of class. He wanted to see if the dog was still where he left it. He knew it was very unlikely, but he still hoped. He found he was having a hard time getting out of the building; a lot of students were crowded around the doors for some reason. When he finally managed to get out the doors, he stopped and stared at what all the others students were looking at. There was the dog, just sitting there looking for all the world like it had been waiting for him. When it spotted Yuuri it started to wag its tail and trotted over to him. Most of the students who were initially scared of its size quickly found it was rather friendly. When the teachers came to break up the growing crowed, Yuuri decided it was time to leave. The dog followed him all the way home.


	2. Chapter 2

"Captain! Captain!" panted a running and paled face solider coming up to Conrad. "Yes?" the kind faced half Mazoku inquired of the panicked looking man. "There was an urgent request for your presences at the temple" the man got out between breaths. "I was told it was an extreme emergency and I should get you right away. It had something to do with the Maou." If Conrad had been slightly concerned by the soldier's rapid reply, he was downright worried now. "Pass the news to the others, tell them I'll head out first" and with he was almost running to the stables to get his horse.

"You do realize that I can't give you any more help than this and that you might well never be able again to be the man you are now don't you?"

"Yes" came Conrad's reply with unwavering conviction.

"Then so be it, I leave the fate of the Maou in your hands." That was the final statement of the Great Spirit as he used the last of his still diminished powers to open a portal to earth.

By the time Gwendal and Wolfram made it to the temple, Conrad was nowhere to be seen.

On the edge of a park pond, a sopping wet brown dog could be seen by the early morning park goers. Unfortunately for Conrad, they weren't your typical park visitors. He had swum out of the pond only to find himself in the mists of what looked to be a mugging. Three thugs all had their knives drawn on a hopelessly out of shape middle aged jogger. The man's back was to the water and he had no clear exit to run to, and even if he did, he wouldn't have been fast enough to get away. Conrad had come up from the water on the man's left side and had yet to be noticed by the man. The three would be muggers had though.

One of the muggers shouted. "Hell that's one big dog!" Conrad finally took the time to notice his changes upon coming out of the water. Just as the man said, he was indeed a dog of some size he thought. He was mostly brown but in varying degrees. He stood up to full height and came up to the man's waist. The jogger and the other muggers took notice at the man's cry and had various reactions. The jogger nearly fainted at the site while the other thugs were more than a little intimidated.

Conrad noticed the nervousness his new form was causing and decided to use it to his advantage. He tried to growl deep in his throat and was pleased it sounded menacing even to himself. Two of the men stared to back up, but the third that had first noticed him was not so easily scared. "What are you pansies scared for? It's just a big dog, nothing we can't handle!" The other two still looked doubtful. "That ain't no dog, that's a freaking wolf!" the one furthers away yelled back. Conrad started to bear his teeth, it was an impressive site.

"Ahh to hell with it, we just found some easy pickings and I'm not going to back off just because of some overgrown mutt!" The closest thug brandished his switch knife and lunged. Conrad, who was still adjusting to the new body, barely got out of the way in time from the knife that would have gone straight through his right eye. The force of the missed lunge cased the man to head for the stunned jogger. Conrad turned around and sank his unforgiving teeth into the hand with the knife before it could strike. The man hollered in pain and dropped the knife in favor of trying to beat the large dog off. At the man's scream and the site of all the blood, his two friends ran off. Conrad let go of his hand and kicked the knife into the water to prevent him from trying anything like that again. The jogger saw he had an opening to get away and he also ran for it. The one thug that was still alone noticed his companions had left without him and decided to get away.

Conrad now found himself alone and covered in mud from the pond with his face covered in the man's blood. He reminded himself that he still had a job to do and set out to find Yuuri before anything dangerous got to the boy first.

Conrad had problems trying to get to Yuuri's house, every time someone saw him they would start to make a commotion. When he heard someone finally call for the pound, he decided discretion was the better part of valor and look to the allies to make his way. When he took another alley to hide in while people were passing, he knew he wouldn't be hidden from the people passing by, so he hid in a large cardboard box he saw by some trash cans. Then he heard voices.

"Can't we talk this over, you know, maybe work something out?"

That voice, it was Yuuri! Conrad was happy to hear the young boy he had been worried so much about, but he wasn't happy with tone in his voice or with what he was saying. He sounded nervous, like he was in trouble. He crouched lower in the box to get a look without being seen. Yuuri was being cornered into the alley he was in by three bigger boys.

"Oh, we'll work something out alright" Said the biggest of them still approaching Yuuri. When Yuuri finally pressed into the wall Conrad had had enough. No one threatens _his_ Yuuri and gets away with it! Conrad stared to deeply growl. He saw one of the bullies spot him and started to pail at the site. He was immensely pleased by the reaction, and even more so when all three slowly stared to back out of the ally. They were still too close to Yuuri for his comfort so he stared to come out of the box he was in. When his face could be seen from his hiding place, the boys ran full out to get away. Conrad felt like smiling, but the only thing that happened was the showing of more large white teeth.

As he moved fully out of the box, he saw Yuuri sitting on the ground with his back to the stone wall and was clinching his eyes shut. He didn't like that Yuuri was still scared, or worse, scared of him, so he slowly stared to approach the boy. He had gotten all the way to Yuuri and he still hadn't opened his eyes. He knew he couldn't speak, if he so much as even tried he would scare the boy witless. He also no longer had arms that he could gently wrap around him to reassure him either. He was staring Yuuri in the face and couldn't really do anything. He could only think of one other thing he could try to do to help him calm down. He gently started to nuzzle the boy's cheek with his noise. It worked, Yuuri's eyes started open at the contact and he looked at Conrad.

He could see that Yuuri was still a little unsure of him, so he tried to look as peaceful as possible. He decided that smiling would most definitely not help right now. Yuuri slowly brought up his hand to pet him on the head and he found he rather liked the way it felt to finally have those nimble fingers running through his hair. When Yuuri started to smile at him, he didn't even notice that his tail had started to wag back and forth in a slow rhythm.

When Yuuri got off the floor and started to head out of the ally, Conrad followed. He tried to stay close to him just in case the boys from before were still around, that and he still had to protect him from other things that might come his way. When Conrad heard the school bell ring, he saw Yuuri looked a little undecided about something. Yuuri then looked at him in such a way he found he was unable to move. The look in his wide black eyes was almost pleading. Then he ran towards his school. Yuuri didn't want to leave him? That was a good sign. He followed after him all the way to the schools doors and sat to wait for him.

When the bell sounded for the end of school, Conrad found himself surrounded by students that were not who he was looking for. He let the children that were brave enough to approach him to pet him, but he still kept an eye out for Yuuri. When he finally saw the boy, he started to make his way to him; he had to keep himself from running over to him. When Yuuri started to leave, he followed him all the way to his house.


	3. Chapter 3

As Yuuri made it to his house, he debated what would be the best way to convince his mother to let him keep the dog. The fact that the dog had saved him earlier that day would be a great starting point, plus it seemed to have a good disposition. He could play off his mother's fantasies about it being a prince magically enchanted or something, his mother would have a field day playing out all the possibilities. Heck, she just might love that especially so if she would always ask about him coming home with wings or not after a trip to Shin Makoku, but first he decided that he had to do something about the dog's scary appearance. He couldn't just present her his new noble knight looking like this. Nothing could be done about the dog's size, but he could clean the dog up a bit by giving it a bath.

He knew his mother would most likely be out at this time of day, but he couldn't be so sure about Shori. If his overprotective brother got a good look at the dog now, there was no way he was ever going to convince him that it was safe for him to be around. So he snuck around to the back of his house as quietly as he could while bringing the ever compliant dog with him. He looked into the house through the open side doors to the yard and tried to peer inside for any sign of his brother. After noticing the lights were all out he deemed the house empty.

The small pool that was often used to take him from this world to the other was still out and had a clean supply of water. Now all he needed was some soap. He stepped into the empty house and when he turned around to try and get the dog to stop following him so it wouldn't get the house messy; he found the dog was just sitting in the yard waiting for him. Maybe the dog had been one of those outside pets only? Yuuri realized even if he got his family to let him keep the dog, it might already have an owner. He didn't think he could bear to get close to it only to later have to give it up. The loss of not being able to see anyone from Shin Makoku was hurting him more than he was letting on to anyone. He shuddered to think of what Shori and his mother might try to do to cheer him up if they ever got wind of his new found loneliness. He just wished he could at least still talk to Conrad, without him around he had no one to confide to. Murata would try every now and then, but they didn't go to the same school and hardly ever met anymore.

He tried to brush away his depressing thoughts as he picked up a random bottle of shampoo from the bathroom and left for his room to get a quick change of clothes go back to the dog. As he came outside to the dog's side, he noticed that the dog's tail was silently waging as he took off his shirt. No point in getting his shirt wet and possible dirty with trying to give the dog a bath. He didn't know if the large animal would put up a fight with him on this or not. He knew cats hated water, but dogs? He had no clue on that one.

He gently tried to guide the dog into the small wading pool only to find that dog seemed to know exactly what was coming. Its tail was wagging so hard that he thought he could almost hear the wind whip around it. It stopped right before entering the pool and turned its head to look at Yuuri. Yuuri for his part was slightly confused as to why the dog had so suddenly stopped only to realize that the dog had done more than just stop, it had also crouched. Before he had time to lift his arms to shield himself, he found himself covered in water from the dog jumping into the pool with a big splash. "How did you manage to get me this wet when I'm not even the one in the pool?" Yuuri laughed out. The dog barked in reply with a playful manner. Yuuri took the shampoo in hand and finally looked at just what he had picked up. _'Strawberry Cream? At least Shori can't complain about you smelling bad. Mom will love it though.'_ He proceeded to squeeze the pink bottles contents into his hands and lather it up. He was careful of the face with the dried blood and was taking his time to look for any wounds that the blood might have come from. After a thorough search he was satisfied that the dog wasn't hurt anywhere. As he washed the dogs back, he noticed that it had gone stone still. Its tail no longer waged and it had its head slightly pointed down with its eyes closed. After about five minutes or so, he had gotten the dog almost completely clean. All that was left was the underside now. He gently stared to rub the dog's chest and front legs to clean the dried dirt from it. He then went to the back legs and started to work his way up. Just as he was almost all the way up the inside of the legs, the dog suddenly decided it had had enough and forcefully shook itself. Yuuri abandoned the rest of the work in favor of trying to keep the flying water out of his face while laughing. He hadn't had this much fun for weeks now.

The dog got out of the pool and proceeded to come up to Yuuri and nuzzle his bare chest and neck. Yuuri was having too much fun while laughing to hear his mother come to the back door and watch her son and the dog. The only thing Yuuri cared about at that moment was the over friendly and affectionate dog that was constantly rubbing and nuzzling against him. It was a bright flash of light a few moments later that finally drew his attention to the previously silent observer. His mother had a camera in hand and was starting to squeal at the cute site in front of her. The soaking wet duo stopped their playing and turned to look at Jennifer. She was practically gushing at the picture the two of them made. Yuuri suddenly didn't think convincing her would be such a problem anymore, now if only he could keep Shori from getting his hands on that picture. He didn't like the idea of a half naked picture of himself in Shori's hands.

"Yuu-chan! Where did you find such a cute doggy?!"

"He scared off a few bullies that were around school and then followed me home; do you think I could keep him?" Since his mother had already taking a liking to the dog, he didn't want her to know just how much trouble he would have been if it weren't for the dog saving him.

"He? No no Yuu-chan! Such a cute doggy has to be a girl! I don't want to be fated to only have boys in the house." Miko sighed. "Have you thought of any pretty names for her? Oh! How about Amber?! Or maybe even Angel! Too bad she doesn't have any wings though."

Yuuri looked down at the dog to find that it was laying flat on its stomach and had its head on Yuuri's lap. He somehow got the impression the dog was just as mortified as he was with his mother's name selection. As his mother tried to suggest even more girlish names, he thought it best if he somehow intervened. Otherwise the dog really might be labeled with one of those embarrassing names. He tried to point out that dog had scared of the bullies with just growling and had faithfully waited outside the school for him to come out and followed him home. At first it seemed to work. She gave a thoughtful look at the dog and suddenly smiled.

"Your right Yuu-chan! He's more like a knight sent to protect his princess from the forces of darkness that would do harm to his fair lady!" Yuuri could almost see the stars in her eyes at the idea. He didn't want to be compared to being a damsel in distress, but if it got his mother to stop trying to give his new dog the girly names from before, he would put up with it.

"You know, he has such pretty brown eyes, just like your handsome godfather! Why not name him Conrad!"

"What!?" Yuuri almost shrieked in response. He couldn't just name his new dog after Conrad! That would be majorly embarrassing if said solider ever found out about it. Not to mention all the teasing Yozak would put him through, or the yelling Wolfram would give his poor ears. He tried to protest the new name, but Miko wouldn't have it.

"If you want to keep him, then his name has to be Conrad" his mother stated with a voice that said she wouldn't reconsider.

'_Shori is not going to like this'_ Yuuri couldn't help but think. All throughout the conversation with his mother he had failed to notice he and now _his_ Conrad were still dripping wet until a shiver went down his spine from the air conditioner blowing in his direction.

"Yuu-chan, why don't you go dry yourself and Conrad off before you catch a cold" Miko suggested. Yuuri couldn't agree more.

"Conrad, come here boy" Yuuri tried. He didn't have any expectations that the dog he had only just met that morning would come to his new name, so he was surprised that it immediately trotted after him. It felt weird to call the dog Conrad, but since it came when called, he lost his last argument he was going to use agents his mother about it.

Conrad followed Yuuri all way to the bath room and silently watched as the boy dried himself off and took his now wet pants off. By the time Yuuri finished with the towel, it was too wet to be of much use for Conrad and it was the last towel, so he picked up a folded shirt of his and tried to dry Conrad with it. When he was done, he took a closer look at the shirt only to find that it wasn't his at all but his brothers. _'Shori is defiantly not going to like this'_ Yuuri almost sighed.

He decided that he might have to resort to calling his brother 'oni-chan' to make up for it. Yuuri peeked outside the door to see if his mother was in sight before dashing to his room to find a dry pair of pants to put on. The entire time Conrad kept on his heels like a shadow. When he had just finished dressing, the front door could be heard opening and his brother's load voice proclaiming he was home with it.


	4. Chapter 4

Conrad couldn't decide if he was in heaven or hell. Yuuri's hands were rubbing all over him in a slow and soothing motion like a massage. His fingers threaded through the fur on his back from his shoulders to the base of his tail. It was on odd sensation, but he found he didn't have any complaints. He had to look away from Yuuri, his pale chest with droplets of water slowly traveling down his slim but slightly developing abbes was too much. He closed his eyes and decided to just enjoy the feelings Yuuri was giving him. He did feel a little guiltily that maybe he was taking advantage of Yuuri's kindness, but all thoughts on the matter abruptly screeched to a halt once he felt warm hands and rubbing fingers move up the inside of his back legs. He shuddered, it was getting to be too much. He felt that if Yuuri continued his path any further upward he might just jump the boy. This wouldn't have been such a problem if he was still human, but he found himself sorely regretting that he wasn't at the moment. Just as Conrad had to fight off the urge to start panting, he started to shake himself off hoping it would distract Yuuri from continuing, but at the same time half hoping it wouldn't.

Yuuri was laughing so much that Conrad felt like smiling and joining in. If the boy was having so much fun getting wet, why not get him even more wet? With that in mind he proceeded to come up to Yuuri and rub his wet fur all over the boy that was trying to put up a fight against it while practically giggling. Even while playing with Yuuri he still kept alert enough to notice a person coming up behind Yuuri from inside the house. He almost gave out a greeting from habit before he stopped and saw the camera in her hand a second before it flashed white. At the sound of her joyous noises he stopped playing along with Yuuri to properly look at her.

Judging by her happy disposition and reaction, he assumed she didn't have problems seeing Yuuri with a strange dog. '_That's one person's approval, two to go'._ He figured that if Miko wanted him around, Shoma wouldn't have an option but to agree. The hard one would he Shori.

"Yuu-chan! Where did you find such a cute doggy?!"

For some reason at the mention of 'cute doggy' he didn't feel as comfortable as he did before. He knew Miko had a tendency to be a little…eccentric at time. More so if she thought something was cute. As Conrad was temporarily caught up in his own inner musings, he was rudely brought out of them when the next thing he heard was his, and now apparently 'her' new names ideas like Angel and such coming from an excited Miko.

'_She wouldn't…she would.'_ Conrad silently lamented the slight blow to his ego and laid his head down on Yuuri's lap. All he could hope for now was that Yuuri would try and do something about it. He heard Yuuri try and make him sound more heroic and a little less feminine by the comparison, and to his pleasure, it seemed to be working.

"Your right Yuu-chan! He's more like a knight sent to protect his princess from the forces of darkness that would do harm to his fair lady!" Conrad couldn't help but find the idea rather amusing since he was somewhat close to that description. Maybe now he wouldn't be labeled with a female name, but then again, Miko just might try to name him after a famous heroine instead.

"Why not name him Conrad!" was Miko's sudden reply.

Yuuri's shriek of protest was the next thing he heard. _'That was unexpected, so she wants to name me after me? If I didn't know better I'd almost say she knew just who I really was.'_ This would make things easier for him in that he could respond to his real name faster than a new one, but he was sure that if it was something Yuuri named him, he could have done so just as fast new or not.

Conrad turned his head to get a better look at how Yuuri was handling this. He was slightly pleased to see the small cute blush gracing the boys' cheeks. Was naming him after himself really something to be so embarrassed about? From Yuuri's perspective, he was just naming a dog, but he supposed that if he got a pet he wouldn't be able to name it after Yuuri without some kind of commotion being made because of it. Yozak would defiantly make some jabs at him for it and his little brother wouldn't take it lying down either. His own mother would just love it though, almost as much as he was sure the maids would.

He could feel Yuuri was starting to shake from the cold air blowing on him and moved to the other side to try and block some of it while mother and son finished their conversation. After a few more minutes Miko finally noticed her son's now visible shaking and suggested that he dry them both off.

"Conrad, come here boy" Yuuri called. Conrad obedeantly followed after. He would have followed after him even if his name hadn't been called. He didn't plan to leave his boys side even once if he could help it. There was no telling where and when something was going to come after him. He had to make sure he was there when it did though.

Yuuri led them into the bath room and Conrad sat raptured as Yuuri started to dry himself off while taking his now wet and tightly clinging pants off. He knew Yuuri wasn't trying to give him a show, but boy was he anyway. Again that slight twinge of guilt sprang up in his stomach, but that was quickly put to the side to examine later when the now almost fully naked Yuuri tried to dry his wet fur off.

After drying him as much as he deemed necessary, his ever modest Yuuri dashed out of the bathroom and made a bee line for his room leaving to door open just long enough to let Conrad slip in after him. Conrad thought it was almost a shame that Yuuri was putting on a pair of pants. Yuuri had such pale and slender legs. Though they were somewhat muscular due to his active sports life, they never got to see the sun much. Conrad was trying hard just to focus his attention on the boys' legs and not look up. If he did he didn't know what he might try later.

So focused on Yuuri's legs and trying not to look up at what he was almost sure was a pair of Shin Makoku underwear that he almost missed the sound of the front door opening. It seemed that this new form had some distinct advantages, like improved hearing. His scene of smell had partially been blocked due to the shampoo, but if he had been able to smell Yuuri, he tried not to think about it.

When Shori called out to the rest of the house that he was home Conrad quickly brought himself back under control. Now would be the hard part. He knew Shori never really cared for him much and that was putting it lightly, but with his new form maybe he wouldn't have such a problem with him. After all, Conrad wasn't really 'Conrad' at the moment, other than in name that was.

Conrad followed Yuuri down stairs for his first meeting with Shori as Yuuri's potential new pet. Just as the pair were coming down the stairs Shori turned the corner and got his first look at Conrad._ 'He might be an animal lover.'_ Conrad hoped.

"What in the world is that beast doing in our house!?" '_Or maybe not'_ Conrad mentally sighed. This was not going to be easy.


End file.
